Hockey Widow wrote:It's amazing how some people just don't get it. Personally I am glad they kept Luongo instead of trading him for pieces that would not make us any better this year and would find us needing a backup which would cost more in assets.

I will be cheering for all those teams that thought Luongo wasn't good enough to take on his contract to fail miserably. The Leaf fans will be happy with a play off appearance but what can you expect.

Donny, this is for you. I can no longer cheer for the Leafs. Something inside just dies as I listened to all those Toronto assholes and their complete crap and lies. Count me in as another born and breed Torontonian who has seen the light.

Luongo will be dealt in the off season. We won't hit a home run. I am OK with that. I hope this energizes the guys in the locker room. US against them again boys, us against them again.

Those Toronto assholes were right. Luongo was worth nothing. He even admitted that.

A game of chicken. The funny thing is that those of us that know Nonis know he covets Luongo. Why he is playing this game who knows but it is a dangerous one he should know well since he lived it with the Canucks.

And I agree, if MG was prepared to take Scivens and picks then he was trying to accommodate Luongo.

I have heard that Luongo was hopeful a deal could be worked out but he had been prepared by MG that a deal before the summer look unlikely. He is said to be more relived that it is over for now than disappointed. He had a few choice words for a few GM's that were playing hardball. He took it as a personal insult and we know how proud he is.

I think he will be fine. He will settle down, his teammates will rally around him and we all move on. I will enjoy watching the Leafs get destroyed in the playoffs. At the end of year interviews I am sure Nonis will be asked by Leaf brass if he thinks they could have gone deeper if they had traded for Luongo. Especially if it would only have cost him Scivens and draft picks. If thats true what the fuck is he thinking? That would have been a steal. Gotta think his ego got int he way on this one. Fuck if he turned that down what in the hell was he offering?

For the Leafs Luongo is money in the bank as he certainly stands a better chance of taking them deeper into the dance than those 2 kids Nonis keeps selling the fans on.

According to the media Nonis' offer in the end was he'd take Lu for free.....taking on the contract was his offer. I don't blame MG for staying the course. If Brodeur & Kipprusoff retire and there's movement like Smith leaving the Coyotes then there will be a demand for goalies. Lets see how the Lightning fare this year w/ Bishop. If they flop I think Yzerman will be keen for a proven vet like Lu. Gillis was smart not to give a goalie away, it certainly doesn't help him now. Even if he gives him away in the summer at least he can use that cap space on an UFA.

ClamRussel wrote:For the Leafs Luongo is money in the bank as he certainly stands a better chance of taking them deeper into the dance than those 2 kids Nonis keeps selling the fans on.

According to the media Nonis' offer in the end was he'd take Lu for free.....taking on the contract was his offer. I don't blame MG for staying the course. If Brodeur & Kipprusoff retire and there's movement like Smith leaving the Coyotes then there will be a demand for goalies. Lets see how the Lightning fare this year w/ Bishop. If they flop I think Yzerman will be keen for a proven vet like Lu. Gillis was smart not to give a goalie away, it certainly doesn't help him now. Even if he gives him away in the summer at least he can use that cap space on an UFA.

Ya this all sounds very personal on Nonis part. Guess he is still sore MG took his job. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised. One of the knocks on him when he was here was he gave away 2nd s like no tomorrow but never went out and added the pieces to take us over the top, even after he had Luongo.

Why the hell would the Leafs not stick with their quality young cheap goalies and add a mid 30's goalie with 9 years left on his contract who has worse numbers?

Ummmmm chief......... Randy was so confident in the Leafs goaltending that he tried to not only acquire an over the hill 37 year old goalie with a .868 sv pctg but was also licking his fat lips to give said goalie a multi year extension till he was 40 but was rebuffed. Does this sound like Randy is confident in his goaltending going into the playoffs ? Spin it all you want youngster Randy is NOT confident in his mediocre twosome. He got into a dick measuirng contest with Eye Bags and nobody won. You can be sure Roberto will not be dealt there this summer after TO flames out in round one. Randy the fat tub of shit can thank his hillbilly mullet rocking cousin for that. Only way he gets to TO is if Gillis get guillotined.

BigTuna wrote: Do you not get it that there are so many money-losing teams that care more about the salary than the cap hit? Thomas was perfect for the Islanders because he cost them no money. You think they'd be as interested in a Luongo? He's in the "Front-Loaded" years of his contract. His salary is higher than his cap hit for the next several years.

Do you not get that Luongo is worth his $5.3M cap hit and then some right now. For a team making money this is important now and even more important next year when the cap does down.

For some teams Luongo could have been the difference between making the playoffs or not this year, and may again be next year. Think TB, FLA, WAS, PHI or CAR. This can mean the difference between making some money in any given year for some teams.

And by the time Roberto is no longer worth his cap hit his salary will be less than his cap hit, the exact same situation as the Thomas one right now. So in the last few years of his deal he doesn't retire but just doesn't report and is suspended by the team that now holds his contract. Cap hit but no salary.

This means a team can add a top 10 goalie now and he will be a very moveable asset down the road as Thomas has shown this year. And if he happens to play well late into his career like Brodeur or Hasek he will be well worth the contract.

Right now with the Cap going down there is concern about adding Luongo, however once teams realize the complete lack of a free agent group this offseason and teams utalize the buyouts Roberto will find a home.

Whoever gets Luongo will be happy with the outcome, there will be teams kicking themselves for not asking a serious attempt to add a top teir tender when they had the chance! TO being one of them.

Personally I would like to keep Luongo and perhaps move Schneider because I think the return would be greater. However it's very clear he wants to be closer to his family and his days in Vancouver are numbered.

BigTuna wrote:The Islanders only added Thomas because they could add his cap hit, without paying him a dime.

Luongo is a completely different situation. His salary is higher than his cap hit.

Do you not get it that there are so many money-losing teams that care more about the salary than the cap hit? Thomas was perfect for the Islanders because he cost them no money. You think they'd be as interested in a Luongo? He's in the "Front-Loaded" years of his contract. His salary is higher than his cap hit for the next several years.

I don't think you're getting it Tuna... too much mercury in the can?

The big worry about Luongo's deal is not the cap hit, nor is it the salary. It's the length of the deal. It's the last couple years. It's the threat of him retiring. Solving this would be very simple, and would look something like this:

1) Team (let's say Toronto) acquires Luongo.2) Luongo plays for them for 5-6-7 whatever seasons. 3) Luongo decides he'd rather not play anymore, but doesn't retire.4) Toronto notifies broke-ass-team (let's call them the Islanders), that they can help them reach the cap floor. They'll give them Roberto Luongo for say... a conditional 5th round pick if Luongo plays 50+ games.5) Luongo waives his NTC. Knows he's not going to report, is planning on retiring, but sees no need in screwing the Leafs over. If he retires, he doesn't get paid. If he doesn't report, he doesn't get paid.6) Luongo is traded to the Islanders. But they're notified by Lou's agent that he won't report (a la Visnovsky or Thomas).7) Luongo goes back to Florida and spends his days tanning on the beach.8) The Islanders retain Lou's cap hit. But since he did not report, he is suspended WITHOUT pay.9) They decide NOT to file a grievance (like they did with Nabokov). They allow the contract to expire (like Tim Thomas). The conditions on the pick are not met. The Leafs rid themselves of Luongo's cap hit, the Islanders meet the floor. Everyone wins.

See how this works? The Islanders acquire Lou's cap hit, but don't have to pay him anything. They meet the league mandated salary floor, but are paying $5.3M less than that, because they aren't paying Lou.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:Ummmmm chief......... Randy was so confident in the Leafs goaltending that he tried to not only acquire an over the hill 37 year old goalie with a .868 sv pctg but was also licking his fat lips to give said goalie a multi year extension till he was 40 but was rebuffed. Does this sound like Randy is confident in his goaltending going into the playoffs ? Spin it all you want youngster Randy is NOT confident in his mediocre twosome. He got into a dick measuirng contest with Eye Bags and nobody won. You can be sure Roberto will not be dealt there this summer after TO flames out in round one. Randy the fat tub of shit can thank his hillbilly mullet rocking cousin for that. Only way he gets to TO is if Gillis get guillotined.

This is the part Leaf fans will conveniently forget.

Good on Gillis for not blinking. Dreger will spew shit because Nonis' hand is crammed right up the rectum and his sausage fingers are manipulating the jaw.

Jason fucking Pominville was traded for 2 good prospects, a first and a second. And people honestly think Luongo will return a Derek Roy-type return? Baffling.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:Ummmmm chief......... Randy was so confident in the Leafs goaltending that he tried to not only acquire an over the hill 37 year old goalie with a .868 sv pctg but was also licking his fat lips to give said goalie a multi year extension till he was 40 but was rebuffed. Does this sound like Randy is confident in his goaltending going into the playoffs ? Spin it all you want youngster Randy is NOT confident in his mediocre twosome. He got into a dick measuirng contest with Eye Bags and nobody won. You can be sure Roberto will not be dealt there this summer after TO flames out in round one. Randy the fat tub of shit can thank his hillbilly mullet rocking cousin for that. Only way he gets to TO is if Gillis get guillotined.

This is the part Leaf fans will conveniently forget.

Good on Gillis for not blinking. Dreger will spew shit because Nonis' hand is crammed right up the rectum and his sausage fingers are manipulating the jaw.

Jason fucking Pominville was traded for 2 good prospects, a first and a second. And people honestly think Luongo will return a Derek Roy-type return? Baffling.

The TSN crew was making me want to puke by the end of it. What made it worse was Lu justifying them with his emotional outburst in the news conference. I get why Lu said it, I would be frustrated too after hearing why other clubs didn't offer up what even he thought he'd be worth in trade.

It is what it is now that the deadline is past. Hopefully the team will get out of their 'waiting for Godot' stupor, realize that they still have a team with a real good shot at going far if they pull their heads out of their assessment and played like we've seen them play even last year.

Like HW said, I hope these teams who balked at Lu this season drop out of the playoffs. The only thing I hope to see more is Lu hoisting the cup and ramming it up the cheeseburgler's ass sideways.

Why the hell would the Leafs not stick with their quality young cheap goalies and add a mid 30's goalie with 9 years left on his contract who has worse numbers?

Ummmmm chief......... Randy was so confident in the Leafs goaltending that he tried to not only acquire an over the hill 37 year old goalie with a .868 sv pctg but was also licking his fat lips to give said goalie a multi year extension till he was 40 but was rebuffed. Does this sound like Randy is confident in his goaltending going into the playoffs ? Spin it all you want youngster Randy is NOT confident in his mediocre twosome. He got into a dick measuirng contest with Eye Bags and nobody won. You can be sure Roberto will not be dealt there this summer after TO flames out in round one. Randy the fat tub of shit can thank his hillbilly mullet rocking cousin for that. Only way he gets to TO is if Gillis get guillotined.

This is exactly why people hate the Leafs - they win a few games for the first time in 10 years and some asshole comes to a Canucks board to rub in the fact Luongo is still here. It's not the Leafs I hate, it's their fans.

Good on Gillis for not blinking. Dreger will spew shit because Nonis' hand is crammed right up the rectum and his sausage fingers are manipulating the jaw.

Jason fucking Pominville was traded for 2 good prospects, a first and a second. And people honestly think Luongo will return a Derek Roy-type return? Baffling.

The TSN crew was making me want to puke by the end of it. What made it worse was Lu justifying them with his emotional outburst in the news conference. I get why Lu said it, I would be frustrated too after hearing why other clubs didn't offer up what even he thought he'd be worth in trade.

It is what it is now that the deadline is past. Hopefully the team will get out of their 'waiting for Godot' stupor, realize that they still have a team with a real good shot at going far if they pull their heads out of their assessment and played like we've seen them play even last year.

Like HW said, I hope these teams who balked at Lu this season drop out of the playoffs. The only thing I hope to see more is Lu hoisting the cup and ramming it up the cheeseburgler's ass sideways.

Win it for Lu!!![/quote]

As things leak out I can tell you Lou is disgusted with the whole thing but not with MG. He truly believes MG tried everything to move him before the deadline. He was stunned when he learned that the Leafs refused MG's last offer, that still has him in tears that a team could think so little of him to make an insulting offer. He is an emotional guy and he is taking this personally, as though he were rejected. It is easy to see why the wheels fell off in Florida if this is how hard those negotiations were on him. Being taken to arbitration and Keenan's negotiation tactics hit him hard, and he felt he had a deal to stay there to boot.

But I think that is one of his Achilles heals. His raw emotion and speaking before thinking. When asked if he would do anything differently he said ya, at the beginning he wouldn't have said what he did. I think he was referring to saying he would waive if asked after they were eliminated. That started this mess and I think he wishes he could take that moment back.

Dreger is responsible for much of the disinformation and I can't help think that it was anything but deliberate. One of the things Burke/Nonis were supposed to have told MG was that if he didn't make the deal in the summer the offers would get worse and they would keep getting worse. They were using strong arm and bullying tactics then and obviously Nonis was true to his word.

I think MG wanted to pull Luongo off the market a week ago but didn't because he wanted to try and accommodate Lou. He knew then that any return now would not help us now. In retrospect I wish he had said the offers we are getting are insulting and we are therefore ceasing all trade talk regarding our goalies until after the season.

We've seen this dance before, just last year with Nash and his untradeable contract. I just hope that Lou's emotional fragility translates into anger and determination to prove to everyone that he is worth a hockey trade return. I think he will respond perfectly, if he ever gets the net back

Funny how none of those pundits even try to explain their lame rumours that have been shown to be utterly false.

A motivated Luongo, is a Luongo I want on my team. This may not be the best team the Canucks have had in the past 4 years. It may not have the chemistry or the young legs but it has a rallying cry now and that can do wonders for a team's psyche.

Is it wishful thinking- sure. But I remember when Luongo came to Vancouver and he had something to prove and he did. Had two Sedins with the flu and a goalie needing a crap not happened perhaps that series in Anaheim goes different.

REgardless, if the old adage of 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' is true I hope Luongo comes out and just kills the rest of the league.

Fucking Leafs

Brick Top: Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt... me.

Arachnid wrote: Why the hell would the Leafs not stick with their quality young cheap goalies and add a mid 30's goalie with 9 years left on his contract who has worse numbers?

Hard as it is to agree with our Toronto friend here, but he's right.The time to trade Lu to TO was at the beginning of the season when goaltending is a questionmark and they were contemplating missing the playoffs for a 7th straight year.

Gillis should have taken whatever deal he could have gotten in January, be it Bozak & a mid round pick or whatever.Gillis screwed up by not taking the best offer available at the time, but holding out instead for a better offer.Luongo is certainly an elite goaltender, but the trade returns are much smaller due to the contract concerns.Now with Markstrom progressing, Bishop in Tampa, TO goalies doing well enough to keep them in the top 6, the trade value has dropped even further.

At the end of the day, I look at it like this: We didn't give up that much for Lu, basically trading him for Bert, who'd shat the bed here to some extent with the whole Moore incedent. (The deal also involved trading defence prospects and a backup for a 6th rounder.). So Gillis shouldn't have been so greedy, we got 5 good years from Luongo, MG should have just been happy with a pick & a utility player.He was obviously hoping to hit a home run and not a single, but what's the fall back plan if we can't get anything for Lu?Trade Schneider?

Again, some won't agree, but TO's need has gone way down and we are getting close to crunch time.

Arachnid wrote: Why the hell would the Leafs not stick with their quality young cheap goalies and add a mid 30's goalie with 9 years left on his contract who has worse numbers?

Hard as it is to agree with our Toronto friend here, but he's right.The time to trade Lu to TO was at the beginning of the season when goaltending is a questionmark and they were contemplating missing the playoffs for a 7th straight year.

Gillis should have taken whatever deal he could have gotten in January, be it Bozak & a mid round pick or whatever.Gillis screwed up by not taking the best offer available at the time, but holding out instead for a better offer.Luongo is certainly an elite goaltender, but the trade returns are much smaller due to the contract concerns.Now with Markstrom progressing, Bishop in Tampa, TO goalies doing well enough to keep them in the top 6, the trade value has dropped even further.

At the end of the day, I look at it like this: We didn't give up that much for Lu, basically trading him for Bert, who'd shat the bed here to some extent with the whole Moore incedent. (The deal also involved trading defence prospects and a backup for a 6th rounder.). So Gillis shouldn't have been so greedy, we got 5 good years from Luongo, MG should have just been happy with a pick & a utility player.He was obviously hoping to hit a home run and not a single, but what's the fall back plan if we can't get anything for Lu?Trade Schneider?

Again, some won't agree, but TO's need has gone way down and we are getting close to crunch time.

Do you really think so? Do you remember one of our goalies in the past, Dan Cloutier? With one of the most potent offense and defense in the league in front of him, he had 3 straight 30+ wins seasons. Unfortunately, when the real season started, he could not stop a beachball. Would that be nice to have a goalie like Luongo during that time?? FFS, the Canucks could have won a cup or two during that time if Luongo was here. The Leafs have two NHL regular season goalies but until they win a playoffs game or two, they are still a big question mark.